Ireland in a spin over slow bowlers

Ireland will be embarking on a crash course in dealing with high-quality spin as they attempt to cause further upsets in the World Cup Super Eight stage.

The unfancied Irish, who claimed their place in the last eight with victory over Pakistan, know they face an even sterner test of their capabilities during the next few weeks.

They begin their campaign against England at the Providence Stadium on Friday and come up against heavyweights like South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka.

Most of those sides have a quality spinner to test the Irish and captain Trent Johnston believes they need to work out a gameplan to ensure they can keep the scoreboard ticking over during the middle overs when spinners are normally employed.

"I'm really happy with the way the guys are playing pace bowling," he explained. "Mohammad Sami got three wickets against us for Pakistan, but the other quick bowlers haven't really done that much damage to us - it's been the spinners who have been tying up our middle order.

"That is one thing we've got to work on. We're heading into this next stage now and we're potentially facing players like Muttiah Muralitharan and Monty Panesar and if we get off to a good start, we can't afford to be squeezed in the middle by spinners.

"That's one thing we're going to concentrate on over the next few days and hopefully improve on that."

The 32-year-old Australian-born all-rounder has also been pleased at the manner his squad, which includes 12 amateur cricketers, has handled facing the world stars they have come across.

None of his side became star-struck at facing Pakistan and he is confident they will not freeze when they come up against some more household names in the coming weeks.

"I'm pleased because the guys haven't played the reputations of the opposition," he said.

"They have just gone out there and played to the best of their ability and that's all that I ask.

"I just want them to come off at the end of a day's play, look themselves in the mirror and know they've given 100% - if we're not good enough, we're not good enough.

"We have 12 amateur cricketers out of a squad of 15 here so if those guys go out and give everything then can then I'll be happy. If we lose by 200 runs and they've done that then I'll be a happy captain."